PIDF Climate Change Advisor, Dr Mahendra Kumar (front 2nd right) with other participants and technical advisors at the Bonn UNFCCC meeting.
Pacific Island Development Forum’s climate change advisor, Dr. Mahendra Kumar, is attending and supporting the PICs at the UNFCCC meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies currently underway in Bonn, Germany.
The Bonn Climate Change Conference opened on Monday 16 May, 2016 at the World Conference Centre and will continue for 2 weeks. Over 50 delegates from the Pacific are part of the large international contingent comprising representatives from governments, intergovernmental bodies, civil society, private sector organisations and other agencies.
“This is a significant meeting as this is the first opportunity for Parties to begin the process of putting flesh to the bones of the Paris Agreement”, commented Dr. Kumar from Bonn.
“Given that 177 Parties have already signed the agreement, there is a huge expectation and indeed appetite to progress swiftly to the implementation phase of the agreement”, he further added.
This is the first meeting of the Parties after the Paris agreement, and a necessary step to the COP22 in Marrakesh, where many decisions regarding the modalities, guidelines and actions on many of the key issues covered under the Paris Agreement, will be undertaken.
The COP21 in Paris reached an ambitious, binding and a universal agreement which was a balanced compromise among all Parties where all made concessions and all received reassurances. The challenge is now to operationalize the Paris Agreement and to turn intended nationally determined contributions into public policies and investment plans for mitigation and adaptation and to deliver on promises.
In so doing, it will be vital to maintain the spirit of Paris and build on the momentum that was created, to respect the balance that was found and to continue working together to strengthen action, support and ambition, moving from a focus on negotiation to a focus on implementation and cooperation.
“The planning for the implementation phase is critical as is this phase where Parties try and interpret the real intent of the Paris decisions and how these will be translated into actions,” said the PIDF Climate Change Advisor.
The PIDF, along the other regional agencies such as SPREP and PIFS, are in Bonn working closely with the countries and providing technical as well as logistical support to the countries.